Lebanon · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Lebanese-Syrian Investment Forum Opens In Beirut With 400 Businesspeople And 16 Ministers
Approximately 400 businesspeople and 16 ministers participated. Syrian delegation included about seven ministers and investment officials.
7 outlets told this the same way.
3 of 4 outlets skipped it: aoun received Syrian ministerial delegation and stressed integration.
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Beirut forum launches cooperation
The Lebanese-Syrian Investment Forum opened in Beirut on Wednesday at the Venice Hotel, bringing together a Syrian delegation comprising around 7 ministers, officials from the Investment Fund and the Syrian Sovereign Fund, and more than 9 Lebanese ministers alongside about 400 businesspeople. Economy Minister Amr Al-Bassat, representing the presidency, told the forum that “the relationship between Lebanon and Syria carried many bonds and experiences,” and he called for shifting “from intentions to institutions, then to implementation.”
Syrian Economy and Industry Minister Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar said “economic stability in Lebanon is also in Syria’s interest,” and he argued that “Syria and Lebanon do not need to rediscover each other” but must redefine economic relations on clearer, more balanced grounds. Ahmed Hashmiyeh, organizer of the Lebanese-Syrian Investment Forum, said the Beirut gathering represented a first step toward translating cooperation between companies, investors, and experts into “new partnerships and investments.”
Officials seek institutional deals
Lebanese President Michel Aoun received a high-level Syrian ministerial delegation at Baabda Palace, and he affirmed that the visit served as a positive indicator of “the sound and robust relations between the two fraternal nations.” Syrian Minister of Economy Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar said the delegation’s visit to Beirut aimed to establish genuine Syrian-Lebanese partnerships and to open a new chapter founded on “peace, goodwill, sincerity, and balance.”
Economy Minister Amer Al-Bassat emphasized efforts to formalize the relationship between the two countries within an institutional framework through the signing of agreements and cooperation protocols, and he underscored the importance of fully capitalizing on reshaping the region’s economic landscape. The forum opened on Wednesday at the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut, and it brought together a Syrian delegation of approximately seven ministers and more than nine Lebanese ministers, with around 400 businesspeople including 190 Syrians and over 200 Lebanese.
Transport, energy, and reconstruction
Syrian Minister of Transport Yibrin Badr told L’Nahar that a railway linkage between the Port of Tripoli and the Syrian railway network formed part of a broader project to boost land logistics corridors and connect the Gulf states to Mediterranean ports. Badr said the Tripoli Port link could help enable the railway network to provide transport services from Gulf countries to Mediterranean ports, and he added that the railway-linking project was currently under study by a global Lebanese consultancy firm.
On the margins of the forum, Ibrahim Al-Dihan, assistant to the Energy Minister for Planning and Institutional Excellence, told L’Nahar that consultations were underway with the Lebanese Ministry of Energy to study the possibility of supplying Lebanon with electricity in the coming period via. SANA said the forum sessions focused on investment opportunities, reconstruction, sustainable development, transport, and broader economic cooperation, and it quoted Economy and Industry Minister Nidal al-Shaar calling for a partnership built on “clear and balanced foundations” with full respect for sovereignty and independent decision-making.